‘Yo! MTV Raps’ celebrates 20 years

Twenty years after its debut, “Yo! MTV Raps” still manages to influence music video television shows. \nClaiming to be “the most influential music TV series of all time,” and most importantly, the highest-rated MTV show of all time, MTV celebrates “Raps’” 20th anniversary by delivering a wave of programs that pay homage to the ground-breaking show.\nAll of the MTV channels will be doing something in order to commemorate the show’s pivotal impact in bringing hip-hop to the world on a larger scale. \nStarting April 1, the nework will air a variety of specials. \nThe celebration will show how “Yo! MTV Raps” has impacted fans and artists alike. These different specials will be shown on the MTV Jams channel, MTV Tr3s, MTV Hits, MTV on Demand, MTV2 and MTV. The celebration will consist of highlights of the show, including interviews and top videos from when it was on air, along with commentary from past video jockeys and artists that were on the show throughout its eight-year tenure. \nAlong with this, the network will show exclusive commentary from stars such as Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Will Smith and Jay-Z, who will speak about the show’s importance and what it did for their careers as rap artists. \nFab Five Freddy, a past “Yo! MTV Raps” video jockey, said the show was essential to creating visibility for black music. \n“Before ‘Yo! MTV Raps,’ black music was absent on television,” Fab Five Freddy said in an MTV-arranged conference call. “BET hadn’t been playing rap during the time ‘Yo!’ had just started out.”\nPast VJs like Fab Five Freddy will get a chance to speak about how important the show was to them and rap fans alike. \n“What made ‘Raps’ so real was the fact that the artists were real,” said Dr. Dre, a past VJ on the show.\nFab Five Freddy said the show took place in what some would call the golden era of hip-hop and proved to be a success because it “was always looking to show the culture behind the music, along with the creative process where the music was made.”